There's no mystery about Enigma's game, it's high end titanium all the way. The British company which designs and builds its bikes in the UK showed a large part of its range at the recent London Cycle show.
All featured 3AL 2.5V titanium frames, with varying amounts of carbon attached and harder 6Al-4V titanium for the dropouts, cable stops and headtube. Each model is available as frame only or you can order complete bikes with various build options. Check out www.enigmabikes.com for further details. Here's a rundown of some of the bikes we saw at the recent London show.
Eulogy
Probably the most eye-catching model on display was the Eulogy race bike featuring an integrated seatpost on a double butted frame matched up with a high modulus carbon back end. Enigma designer, Mark Reilly, explained that the integrated seatpost is designed to give the bike just that extra bit of stiffness through the bottom bracket so more of your power makes it through to the back wheel. It's also the 'in thing' at the moment but we don't doubt the extra feel from the in-built titanium mast.
The standard build includes Enigma Electron carbon fork, Campag Record front and rear mechs, Campag Eurus wheels (Shamal Ultra's, as pictured cost an extra £110) and carbon bottle cages. ITM supplied the carbon bars and stem for the bike at the show but the standard build uses Deda Newton 'bars and a Deda Zero stem. Frame only price: £1,485, standard build Record build £3,699 or with Campagnolo Chorus for £3,399.
Effusion
For those who want just a bit more cush from their performance bike Enigma offer the Effusion, which is basically a standard seatpost version of the Eulogy except this time only the rear seat stays are carbon. The show bike was built up with a Camagnolo Record groupset rather than the standard build's Centaur, and Campag Eurus wheels (a £190 upgrade over the standard build's Campag Zondas). Frame only price is £1,299, standard build £3050 with Record Groupset £3,350.
Etape
Still with an accent on speed but this time with much more of an emphasis on distance and comfort the latest version of Enigma's most popular bike, the Etape was a real eye-catcher. As the name sugggests this bike is designed with audax rides and sportifs in mind, but we could also see ourselves doing some fast touring on it too especially with the addition of the optional Tubus Fly rack (at an extra £50). The standard bike comes built up with Campagnolo Centaur (you can have Campag's Chorus gruppo for £2,350) matched up with Fulcrum 7 wheels, again you can upgrade these to either Fulcrum 3s or Campag Zondas for an extra £270.
Ego
For the mountain bikers the Ego is a £999.00 3Al-4V hardtail frame. Features include S shaped chainstays for a bit of extra comfort and mud clearance. All the frames are disc specific - custom builds are on offer for an extra price. There's nothing to stop you going down the seatmast route like the road bikes.
Singlespeed Eulogy
Straight from Enigma's Lab department comes one of the most striking fixers of the show. It's a fixed and seatmasted, Eulogy. Possibly the ultimate hack-come-city fixed bike the single speed Eulogy looked gorgeously simple. We also like the fact that no one can nick your seatpost.
Other projects currently being worked on by Enigma's Lab department include:
- A titanium road frame weighing under 1kg
- A mountain bike where the seatube is not connected to the toptube, and seat stay for improved comfort.
- A cyclocross frame with switchable dropouts for a disc brake setup or single speed. Sort of town and country.
- A touring frame with slider dropouts for a Rohloff hub.
- A ladies touring frame with load of standover
If you've got any titanium request contact the Lab at Enigma.